Elon Musk insulted the Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensenin force at the European Space Agency (ESA) and former commander of the International Space Station, defining him “completely delayed” and “idiot” on social X following a controversy over the prolonged stay of American astronauts Suni Williams And Butch Wilmore Arrived aboard the ISS in June 2024 with the capsule Starliner of Boeing. The patron of Spacex has also declared that the space station must be abandoned before time, because by now – paraphrasing – “no longer is needed”. Once analyzed, Musk’s arguments are however incorrect and tendentious. So let’s see what happened and let’s clarify the statements of the US magnate, demonstrating why they are not correct.
The clash between Musk and the astronaut Mogensen: what happened and why Musk is wrong
The dispute began on February 20, 2025, when Mogensen shared the statements in which Musk accused the administration Biden not to have done enough to bring the two astronauts to the ground: according to Musk, Williams and Wilmore would have been blocked on the ISS due to “Political reasons”. Musk then added that Spacex He could have anticipated the return of the astronauts, if only the White House had accepted his offer. Musk also recently declared that he would “save” the “trapped” astronauts with a dedicated Spacex mission.
In reality, to the proof of the facts, very little – to say nothing – of all this is true. There politicsin particular, has nothing to do with NASA’s decision. Already between the end of August and September, the American space agency decided that Starliner, who had had technical problems already during the journey to the space station, was not sure for the return to the ground of the astronauts and that therefore these they would have returned with the Crew-9 mission of Spacex, already scheduled with a return to the beginning of 2025. It was decided that the Dragon capsule would bring to the ISS 2 astronauts instead of 4just to allow Williams and Wilmore to return. In the meantime, the two astronauts are engaged in scientific activities within the International Space Station. NASA itself has ensured that astronauts are well and continue to work on board the station conducting scientific experiments and participating in activities such as the Spatial walks
It is therefore understood that the astronauts were not “trapped” in the ISS, let alone “abandoned” by the Biden administration; The question was resolved by NASA over six months ago according to criteria that very little have to do with politicsand certainly Musk is not planning any mission to “save them”. There is no doubt that Musk made Spacex available for a dedicated mission that would bring Williams and Wilmore back to the ground, but NASA would not have had reason to pay hundreds of millions of dollars (It is estimated about 200 million) In Spacex when it would have been enough to simply take advantage of an already scheduled mission and a service already paid, in the meantime committing astronauts in scientific activities. The same Williams and Wilmore, that is i directed interestedMusk’s “version” have decisively denied.
Elon Musk’s statements on a possible early dismantling of the ISS: the plan and costs of the deorbitation
Following the diatribe between Musk and Mogensen, the founder of Spacex launched himself in other statements on the international space station, suggesting to the new president Donald Trump to order the early deorbitation of the ISS within 2 years And not 5 as initially expected. The reason? According to Musk the space agency he would have finished his goals and should focus more on more ambitious plans such as the exploration of other planets, in particular Marsas Musk himself says through an X post.
In fact, this declaration too It makes little senseif analyzed from a technical point of view. The ISS program is in fact managed – as it is easy to imagine – from International agreements Among various spatial agencies, including the American, European, Canadian and Japanese. In short, it is not that the station is deorbited because the president of one of the countries involved in the program “orders” it.
This sudden “acceleration” of Elon Musk on the disposal of the ISS could also have a second goal, since deorbiting was commissioned to Spacex last summer with a contract of almost 1 billion dollars. Finally, Spacex itself has an interest in a possible human program on the red planet through the program Starship which is currently in the test phase.
